Katie Austin and K9 Ranger working in the field for Alpha SAR, searching for victims of the July 4, 2025, Kerrville flood of the Guadalupe River.
July 16, 2025
“It’s a lot of emotions happening all at once, and your adrenaline is pumping. You feel grief and the shock of destruction contrasted with gratitude for the community support and pride to be in a position to help. Only after you get back home do you feel exhausted.”
That’s how Megan Corona, Public Relations Officer for Alpha Search + Recovery, describes the intense experience of searching for survivors and victims of the Kerrville July 4 flood.
Alpha SAR is a non-profit search and recovery organization based in Houston since around 2012. I first worked with them when they teamed up with SystemsGo during our rocket launches near Anahuac, Texas. As part of their intensive training, several volunteers brought out their dogs to practice search skills, which include orienteering, survival, tracking, communications, and first aid. They would help us find and recover rockets, while dealing with primitive conditions, difficult terrain, mosquitoes, indignant cattle, and the occasional alligator nest.
The group is committed to their mission. According to Corona, they train officially as a team three times a week, including most of each Saturday. Keep in mind, members are volunteers who provide their own gear and dogs, while holding down challenging jobs and often having families.
Members of Alpha SAR, along with representatives of other Texas and national search and rescue teams, have spent grueling days on the ground along the Guadalupe River searching for missing persons. I was curious how members of this group were handling working on something that “was not a drill.” What drives them to leave home and strike out in difficult conditions, knowing if they are successful, they will face uncomfortable situations?
“Everyone has his or her own driving mechanism,” Corona said. “We have members who have had family members with dementia or Alzheimer’s, knowing it is possible that someone might open the front door and walk outside and never be seen again. The dogs can tell us so much, and are such an invaluable asset. Collectively we share the same goal–to find the missing and bring them home.”
The team can be deployed at the request of law enforcement or other acting agencies. Typically their work involves finding lost individuals who might have wandered from home, or finding victims of homicide.
Besides the emotional toll, the work is physically demanding. For a typical search here, the Alpha SAR team assembles at Incident Command ready to deploy at 0700. They hear the briefing, learning which areas have been covered and where they need to go next. As they spread into the field, their job is to to run canine teams in high probability areas and to locate “places of interest,” then report back to Incident Command so they can mobilize appropriate assets into that area. After several hours of searching, they take a break, finding shade to rest themselves and their dogs, taking water and snacks to fuel up. Every searcher is self-sustaining with food, water, and communications gear, as each situation is fluid and they go in not knowing how long they will be in the field or where they will end up.
The Alpha SAR team currently boasts about 15 active operational members along with 20 canines at various levels of training and operational status. They collaborate with other search and rescue teams from across the state and the country, supporting each other and conducting mutual trainings.
Some of the Alpha SAR Human Remains Detection Handlers: Erin Arkison and K9 Marshall, Megan Corona and K9 Freya, Justin O’Keefe and K9 Sirius, Sean Powers and K9 Gambit, Krstin Smaltz and K9 Drax, Katie Austin and K9 Ranger.
One trait they share is their affinity for the dogs.
“They help us accomplish our mission, but at the end of the day they are family too and receive the best care. They provide a lot of comfort for us when things are hard in the field. Our bonds with them are powerful.”
As hard as it can be at times, Corona is grateful to be a part of it.
“It is grim and it is real and it is humbling,” Corona said. “We just hope we can find people and give families peace and solace in having that family member brought home.”
For inquiries, to volunteer, or offer financial support, visit ALPHASAR.ORG.